Monday, June 04, 2007

U.S. Assessment: Troops in control of less than 1/3 of Baghdad neighborhoods

Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division take security positions during a recon mission for a Joint Direct Attack Munitions operation in the Al Hadr area of Baghdad on May 11

Three months after the start of the Baghdad security plan that has added thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital, they control fewer than one-third of the city’s neighborhoods, far short of the initial goal for the operation, according to some commanders and an internal military assessment.

The American assessment, completed in late May, found that American and Iraqi forces were able to “protect the population” and “maintain physical influence over” only 146 of the 457 Baghdad neighborhoods.

In the remaining 311 neighborhoods, troops have either not begun operations aimed at rooting out insurgents or still face “resistance,” according to the one-page assessment, which was provided to The New York Times and summarized reports from brigade and battalion commanders in Baghdad.